Transport system for fruit and like objects
A device for transporting articles is disclosed. In the illustrated and described embodiment of the invention, the articles are fruit such as apples, and the articles can be transported from a picking location on a fruit tree to a collection bin or other site. The device includes a tube member adapted to receive and transport the articles, and a plurality of deformable baffles at spaced-apart locations within the tube. Each baffle defines an aperture which permits the article to engage and deform the baffle and aperture so as to move through the aperture and down the tube. The article is urged through the tube by a pressure differential created across the article. In the described and illustrated embodiment of the invention, this pressure differential is a pneumatic pressure differential.
Latest Picker Technologies LLC Patents:
This application claims priority from U.S. provisional patent application 60/920,069 filed Mar. 26, 2007; and from U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/949,630 filed Jul. 13, 2007.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates generally to systems for transporting small objects, and more particularly relates to pneumatic transport systems.
Presently in the fruit industry, most specifically in the apple industry, fruit is traditionally handpicked. The pickers carefully place the fruit in apple bags which are worn on the shoulders of the pickers, extending downward over the chest and abdomen to the groin. The pickers then gently release the fruit into large bins for later transport to a packing or processing plant. This technique provides for the “on-tree” selection by the picker of the appropriate fruit (apples) for picking utilizing the visually discernible criteria of color size and quality. Good pickers remove the fruit from the tree while keeping the stem intact on the fruit so as to maintain the integrity of the following years fruiting bud on the tree. On occasion, the picking operations must contend with the clipping of overly stiff or long stems; the gentle placement of the fruit into the picking bag to prevent bruising; and the transfer and delivery of the fruit to a larger size container better adapted for truck transport. Fruit located on high limbs may require that the picker climb a ladder or stand on a scaffold to reach the fruit. The fruit bins are usually placed in the row between tree lines and spaced so that they can be filled by apples transferred from the picker's bag within the shortest walking distance. The bins are then picked up by an apple trailer pulled by a tractor and taken to a common holding site awaiting forklift placement onto a flatbed truck.
This fruit picking process results in about 30% of the picker's time actually picking fruit, with the remaining 70% of the time gently placing the fruit into bags or bins after having clipped the stems when required, moving and climbing up and down ladders, carrying fruit from one place to another, then walking to and carefully releasing the picker's bag load of apples into the collecting bin taking special care not to cause a blemish or bruise on the fruit by rough handling. The picker's bag load may weigh 40 pounds or more leading to fatigue of the picker and a reduction in efficiency.
Due to the seasonal nature of the fruit harvest, fruit pickers are frequently found amongst migrant worker groups often from countries outside the United States. As a result of stringent U.S. immigration policies, a sufficient numbers of pickers may not be available to pick the fruit at harvest time. Due to the slowness of the fruit handpicking process, large numbers of pickers are required when the fruit reaches the proper point of ripeness. Since individual productivity is low when fruit is handpicked, wages remain low for the individual picker. This in turn results in the propagation of a population of below average wage earners.
It is an objective of this invention to improve the productivity of the individual picker while maintaining the advantages of the hand picking process, namely: selectivity of fruit to be picked, gentleness to prevent bruising at all stages of movement and packing and stem trimming when needed is desirable.
To accomplish this objective, a system involving specially modified and augmented pneumatic tubes is presented.
While the invention will be described in connection with a preferred embodiment and procedure, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to this embodiment or procedure. On the contrary, it is intended to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
In one embodiment, the transport tube invention and its peripheral equipment are comprised of four parts or subsystems. These four subsystems act together to: a) surround and contain a selected fruit on the tree, vine or bush; b) release the fruit or other object from the parent tree or plant at the stem's natural point of release or by clipping the stem at a desired length; c) advance (move) the fruit gently yet quickly up and/or down and/or along a rigid or flexible tube pathway, and finally; d) deposit the fruit without bruising into a separate chamber, e.g., a water bath or rigid container.
-
- a) In the “surround and contain” or entry portion of the device, a pneumatic tube 40 is provided with a rigid or flexible entry portal or input device 35 (
FIG. 35 ) comprised of plastic, rubber or other suitable material. This entry device 35 can be of known design, or it can be a flexible drop chute as disclosed and informally claimed in co-pending U.S. provisional patent application 60/972,302 filed Sep. 14, 2007. This entry portal device 35 is placed under and around the fruit from the stemless end to the stem end (FIGS. 1-3 ). When the fruit is picked and separated from the tree, the portal device 35 receives the fruit from the picker and delivers it to the transport tube 40 (FIGS. 1-3 , 3a). The surrounding chute structure 35 is dimensioned so as to allow entry by any given fruit of any size, is stiff enough so as to not collapse or disfigure the shape of the tube 40 by the weight or shape of the fruit throughout the course of its passage, or prolong the passage of the fruit through the hollow chute and tube structure. - b) The fruit or other objects to be picked are separated from the tree by hand, or with the aid of a clipper or scissors-like device. These scissors or clippers can be of known design, or they can be of the sort disclosed and informally claimed in U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/921,707 filed Apr. 4, 2007 or U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/949,533 filed Jul. 13, 2007. As indicated in those applications, the “release or clip” portion of the device can be a common scissor-like device. This clipper can be comprised of one or more partially rotatable, curved, arc-like metal or plastic members, and if desired they can be mounted to the entry portal device or tube near the entry portal. The rotatable blades may be either blunt or sharp. In one embodiment of the “release or clip” portion of the device, the fruit is separated by cutting the stem when the fruit is contained in the chute of entry portal 35, and the fruit drops down the tube for transport. In another embodiment of the “release or clip” portion of the device the blade members may be sharp and act like a knife to cut the stem at the desired length. In still another embodiment of the “release or clip” portion of the device, multiple blades may act as a scissor to cut the stem. The rotatable blades may be activated by either a visual/manual system or by a mechanical or electronic sensor when the fruit is properly positioned for fruit stem release from the tree stem. The rotatable blades may be powered by manual force, or pneumatic or other mechanically or hydraulically applied mechanisms.
- The fruit can be picked by hand, of course—a lateral force sufficient to break the fruit portion of the stem from the tree can be manually applied.
- c) In the “advance/move” portion of the device, the interior of the hollow or tubular portion 40 of the device can be lined with a soft or readily insertible and replaceable material liner 41 (
FIG. 6 ), and a series of baffles, as more extensively disclosed and claimed below. Pneumatic pressure can be applied to the fruit or other object to be moved, as more fully described and claimed below. - d) The terminal downstream peripheral “deposit portion” of the tube is configured so as to gently deliver the fruit or other objects into either a water bath or rigid container. The tube downstream end may be directed to different location in a water bath (not shown) by hand or machine, or the tube 40 can be rigidly connected to the water bath container for delivery into a sufficiently deep current of water so that any particular fruit does not contact another fruit or the bottom of the container during the water entry process. In a first embodiment of the “deposit portion” of the device, the terminal portion of the tube is connected to a water bath container. In a second embodiment, the “deposit end” of the device is arranged for delivery of the fruit or other items into a rigid container or water bath, but a terminal baffle or cushion of soft material or inflatable material is positioned so as to absorb the force of the moving fruit without bruising it. Once decelerated, the fruit would exit the flexible tube through a lateral portal, either by moving the tube away from the direction of the fruit exit portal, or by gently pushing the fruit through the portal in the tube side. This pushing action could be provided by an inflatable device triggered mechanically, or it could be triggered electrically by the fruit hitting a terminal deceleration cushion.
Pneumatic Tubes for Moving Items
- a) In the “surround and contain” or entry portion of the device, a pneumatic tube 40 is provided with a rigid or flexible entry portal or input device 35 (
In 19th-century Europe, public and technical interest arose in the idea of so-called atmospheric railways. Original proposals called for the use of pneumatic tubes to carry letters, packages and even passenger trains, cars and freight. The train might be thought of as a series of car capsules or canisters into which people or items of an undetermined shape entered before being moved along as a result of an exterior force applied to the train cars. If a seal were to be created between the canister cars and the interior surface of the tunnel, the canister cars could be moved through the tube by providing relatively low pneumatic pressure at the forward end of the train and a relatively high pneumatic pressure at the rear end of the train. Later proposals suggested the use of a small pneumatic tube located alongside an ordinary railway track; a piston inside the tube would pull an attached train running on the rails. The ultimately successful alternative of pulling railway trains through tunnels or tubes behind steam locomotives was extensively developed during the same years. A copy of a descriptive article is in the file history of this patent application, and is available to the public.
In 1840, Samuel Clegg and Jacobs Samuda (British subjects) obtained U.S. Pat. No. 1,922 for the Construction of Valves for Pneumatic Railways. Implementation of that patent led to the successful movement of a train on wheels on a track positioned within a tube for a distance of one block. U.S. Pat. Nos. 255,525 and 284,456 disclose early pneumatic systems for so-called store service carriers.
The fundamental concept common to previous pneumatic systems for movement of items relies on one or more seal members affixed to the moving item. These seal members provide a pneumatic seal between the moving item and the interior surface of the tube. The item to be transported (which may be of any shape) is placed within a canister of predetermined shape. An exterior flange-like seal secured to the canister moves along with the canister through the tube. The seal continuously engages the interior surface of the tube so as to provide an air seal. This air seal permits the development of a pneumatic pressure differential in the tube between the upstream and downstream surfaces of the seal and capsule. The force of this air pressure differential propels the capsule and seal along the tube.
Pneumatic Transport or Movement Device
The object of this invention is to rapidly move items through a tube independent of the items' shapes without having to place the items into a capsule or canister of fixed shape. A means to create a seal sufficient to allow the pressurized system to advance the item through the tube is required. An embodiment of the new concept focuses on a sealing arrangement, but the seals do not move along through the tube. The sealing arrangement nevertheless can maintain a proper environment for effectively providing pneumatically induced movement of the item through the tube.
In accordance with the invention, a series of sealing baffles are affixed to the interior wall of the tube and can accommodate items of different sizes and shapes while maintaining a series of pneumatic seals between the sealing baffles and the items moving down the tube.
As suggested in
To reach apples or other fruit at various heights in the trees, the pickers P can be provided with picking stations or platforms 340 as especially suggested in
As shown in
In an alternative embodiment of the invention, groups of closely-spaced multiple baffles may be located at major intervals along the tube interior.
Preferably, the baffles each define a central opening or hole 51. The outer periphery of the baffle, and the periphery of the hole 51, can be of any convenient shape such as circular, oval, elliptical, or other shape. As suggested in
The baffle 50 may have slits 52 extending from the central opening into the baffle material to facilitate its opening to accommodate a relatively loose item F passing through it. If small items F are to be moved, the slits 52 may not be needed. Alternatively, the baffles 50 can be inflatable. The material comprising the inflatable baffles can be shaped and arranged so that progressive inflation of the baffle will provide a progressively smaller opening 51, or the shape of the opening 51 will be progressively changed in some other way.
Throughout the time of engagement of the item in the central opening of the baffle, a more or less imperfect pneumatic seal is temporarily made between the object and the baffle surface. When the pneumatic system (vacuum or air pressure) pulls and or pushes it free from an upstream baffle, the item rapidly advances to the next baffle opening where the phenomenon is repeated for the full length of the baffle segmented tube.
To minimize any traumatic effect on the item F being moved through the tube 40 in further accordance with the invention, the interior of the tube surface located between the resilient periodic baffle members 50 may be lined with a soft material 41 such as a soft rubber or resilient plastic. Alternatively, a series of many soft cushions such as outcroppings of small flexible finger-like extensions 42 or a soft inflatable air-filled balloon-like interior wall liner can be provided between the baffles as particularly suggested in
An alternatively shaped baffle arrangement is shown in
Several variations of these baffles 50 are shown in
The tubes 40 illustrated here can comprise an outer tube 45 and a coaxial inner tube 46 having apertures 47 therein. This tube arrangement permits the creation of an air 315 flow liner 46 thereby facilitating the maintenance of the object moving through the tube in a more central position in the tube 40, while at the same time placing an axially extending air space 48 between individual objects F which may be moving through the tube 40 at the same time. Additionally this arrangement will allow for the effect of either vacuum or positive air pressure applied to the tube to reach more than one item moving through the tube at the same time.
Other means of achieving similar effect(s) can be accomplished by having air movement portals periodically and circumferentially placed in the tube. As suggested in
A retainer ring 60 is shown in
As suggested above, modified airflow and air pressures within the tubes can be provided by an arrangement of a coaxially aligned outer tube 45 and an inner tube 46 (
The construction and assembly of the tubes, baffles and inner liners or spacers is suggested in
Spacers 80 (
An alternatively designed spacer 87 is shown in
If desired, a series of transport tubes can be carried within a relatively large conduit 400, as suggested in
Claims
1. A device for transporting articles, comprising:
- a tube member adapted to receive and transport articles;
- a pneumatic system for causing a pressure differential across the article being transported as the article moves through the device; and
- a plurality of unslitted, unslotted deformable baffles at spaced-apart locations throughout the length of the tube,
- each baffle defining an aperture through which the transported article can pass, wherein adjacent baffles are spaced apart by a distance approximately equal to the diameter of the baffle aperture.
2. A device according to claim 1 wherein the baffle aperture is smaller than the article being transported, but permits the transported article to engage and deform the baffle and aperture so as to permit the article to move through the aperture.
3. A device according to claim 1 further including a cutter for separating the article from a plant.
4. A device according to claim 1 wherein said tube member comprises an inner tube and an outer tube coaxially aligned with but radially spaced apart from the outer tube to provide an air flow space between the tubes.
5. A device according to claim 1 further including at least one liner member located between adjacent baffles.
6. A device according to claim 1 wherein the device is mounted upon a mobile platform.
7. A device according to claim 1 further including a chute mounted at an entry end of said tube member, the chute being adapted to receive an article to be transported and to deliver the article to a tube entry end.
8. A device according to claim 7 wherein said chute is flexible and is generally conical in shape.
9. A device according to claim 7 wherein said chute includes means permitting a picker to wear the chute.
10. A device according to claim 1 wherein said tube member has a corrugated interior surface.
11. A device according to claim 10 wherein said corrugated interior surface is helical.
12. A device according to claim 11 wherein said baffles are adapted to be screwed into said helical corrugation into predetermined positions.
13. A device according to claim 1 wherein said tube member comprises two U-shaped tube halves.
14. A device according to claim 13 further including locking means for securing the tube halves together in confronting relationship.
15. A device according to claim 1 further including at least one spacer located between adjacent baffles, the spacer having an aperture permitting the condition of the tube member interior to be viewed.
16. A device according to claim 1 further including at least one inflatable wall liner located between adjacent baffles.
17. A device according to claim 1 wherein said baffle is conical in shape.
18. A device according to claim 1 further including a plurality of flexible baffles of generally conical shape and having axial lengths of predetermined extent.
19. A device according to claim 1 wherein said tube member includes at least one rigid section.
20. A device according to claim 1 wherein said tube member includes at least one flexible section.
21. A device according to claim 1 wherein said tube includes a corrugated outer surface.
22. A method of transporting an article through a tube having unslitted, unslotted baffles therein which are spaced apart throughout the length of the tube by a distance approximately equal to the diameter of the baffle aperture, the method comprising the steps of:
- receiving an article in a tube upstream end;
- creating a pressure differential across the article within said tube so as to cause said article to move and continuously sequentially engage the baffles through said tube; and depositing the article in a predetermined location after the article is delivered to a downstream tube end.
23. A method of transporting an article through a tube according to claim 22 further comprising the step of sequentially engaging said article by one baffle after another as said article passes through said tube.
24. A method of transporting an article through a tube according to claim 22 further comprising the step of deforming at least one of said baffles as said article passes through said baffle.
25. A combination comprising:
- a bi-ended tube member adapted to receive and transport articles;
- a pneumatic system for creating a pressure differential between the tube ends;
- a plurality of apertured but unslitted, unslotted deformable baffles at axially spaced-apart locations throughout the length of the tube;
- wherein the baffles are adapted to at least partly engage the surface of an article being transported so as to encourage the development of at least a momentary pressure differential across the article being transported as the article moves through the tube, and thereby advance the article through the baffle and along the tube to the next baffle.
26. The combination according to claim 25 wherein at least one said baffle is disk-shaped having an axial dimension less than its radial dimension.
27. The combination according to claim 25 wherein said at least one said baffle is a planar ring.
28. A device for transporting articles, comprising:
- a tube member adapted to receive and transport articles;
- a pneumatic system for causing a pressure differential across the article being transported as the article moves to the device; and
- a plurality of unslitted, unslotted deformable baffles at spaced-apart locations throughout the length of the tube,
- each deformable baffle defining an aperture through which the transported article can pass, wherein said deformable baffle is adapted to create a pressure seal between the baffle and the article being transported through the baffle, and wherein the adjacent baffles are spaced apart by a distance approximately equal to the diameter of the baffle, so that the article passing through the baffle is passed substantially continuously from one sealing baffle engagement to the next sealing baffle engagement.
29. A method of transporting an article through a tube having apertured but unslitted, unslotted baffles therein which are spaced apart through the length of the tube by a distance approximately equal to the diameter of the baffle aperture, the method comprising the steps of:
- receiving an article in a tube upstream end; and thereafter
- creating a seal between the article being transported and a baffle so as to create a pressure differential across the article being transported along the tube and through the baffle, the pressure differential across the article consequently urging the article through the baffle and toward the next baffle within the tube so as to cause said article to move and sequentially engage the baffles in said tube with a sealing engagement.
30. A combination comprising:
- a bi-ended tube member adapted to receive and transport articles;
- a pneumatic system for creating a pressure differential between the tube ends;
- a plurality of apertured but unslotted deformable baffles at axially spaced apart locations throughout the length of the tube, the baffle spacing being substantially equal to the diameter of the baffle aperture; the baffles being adapted to at least partly engage the surface of an article being transported so as to encourage the development of at least a momentary pressure differential seal across the article being transported as the article moves through the baffle and thereby advance the article along the tube to the next baffle.
31. A device for transporting articles, comprising:
- a tube member adapted to receive and transport articles;
- a pneumatic system for causing a pressure differential across the article being transported as the article moves through the device; and
- a plurality of apertured deformable baffles at spaced-apart locations throughout the length of the tube,
- each baffle defining a single aperture through which the transported article can pass, wherein adjacent baffles are spaced apart by a distance approximately equal to the diameter of the baffle aperture.
32. A combination comprising:
- a bi-ended tube member adapted to receive and transport articles;
- a pneumatic system for creating a pressure differential between the tube ends;
- a plurality of apertured but unslitted, unslotted deformable baffles at axially spaced-apart locations throughout the length of the tube;
- wherein the baffles are adapted to at least partly engage the surface of an article being transported so as to encourage the development of at least a momentary pressure differential seal across the article being transported as the article moves through the tube, and thereby advance the article through the baffle and along the tube to the next baffle, the baffles being spaced apart from one another within the tube by a distance approximately equal to the diameter of the baffle aperture so that the article being transported is substantially continuously engaged by at least one baffle so as to develop a pressure differential across the baffle and the article moving through that baffle.
1114318 | October 1914 | Vasey |
1626402 | April 1927 | Fryman |
2288682 | July 1942 | Chittenden |
2545072 | March 1951 | Denman |
RE23524 | July 1952 | Denman |
2650464 | September 1953 | Bernheim |
2680338 | June 1954 | Space |
2711625 | June 1955 | Bullock |
2775088 | December 1956 | Bullock |
2968907 | January 1961 | Bernheim et al. |
3165880 | January 1965 | Buie, Jr. |
3348647 | October 1967 | Gates et al. |
3413787 | December 1968 | Van Antwerp et al. |
3460327 | August 1969 | Johnson et al. |
3460330 | August 1969 | Black, Jr. |
3464529 | September 1969 | Horsky, Jr. |
3473312 | October 1969 | Holt |
3489258 | January 1970 | Stokes |
3507107 | April 1970 | Harms et al. |
3538695 | November 1970 | Carnell |
3559387 | February 1971 | Myers |
3564826 | February 1971 | Middleton |
3584442 | June 1971 | White |
3591949 | July 1971 | Connery |
3664104 | May 1972 | Jamshidi |
3756001 | September 1973 | Macidull |
3767268 | October 1973 | Stucky |
3854273 | December 1974 | Rosenberg |
3898785 | August 1975 | Chew |
3913307 | October 1975 | Cardinal, Jr. |
3934691 | January 27, 1976 | Toloczko |
3969878 | July 20, 1976 | Morganeier |
4000602 | January 4, 1977 | Cardinal, Jr. |
4320995 | March 23, 1982 | Tennes et al. |
4388798 | June 21, 1983 | Gerber |
4394259 | July 19, 1983 | Benny et al. |
4476670 | October 16, 1984 | Ukai et al. |
4491212 | January 1, 1985 | Gray, Jr. |
4501113 | February 26, 1985 | Gerber |
4558561 | December 17, 1985 | Mendenhall |
4674265 | June 23, 1987 | Gerber |
4704851 | November 10, 1987 | Manor |
4750602 | June 14, 1988 | Souda |
5007772 | April 16, 1991 | McKenna et al. |
5125223 | June 30, 1992 | McKenna et al. |
5205677 | April 27, 1993 | McKenna |
5280697 | January 25, 1994 | Miller |
5319911 | June 14, 1994 | Wilhite |
5599157 | February 4, 1997 | Ellington |
5840102 | November 24, 1998 | McCracken |
5878562 | March 9, 1999 | Cernusco |
6182431 | February 6, 2001 | Balchen |
6371711 | April 16, 2002 | Berger |
6827529 | December 7, 2004 | Berge et al. |
6840715 | January 11, 2005 | Crovara Pescia |
20050172595 | August 11, 2005 | Wells et al. |
20080010961 | January 17, 2008 | Gray |
WO 00/62594 | October 2000 | WO |
- Fox, Robert W. and McDonald, Alan T., Introduction to Fluid Mechanics, Purdue University School of Mech. Eng., John Wiley & Sons, 4th Ed., pp. 124, 380-384, 633, New York, NY: 1992.
- Brennan, J. “Beach Pneumatic: Alfred Beach's Pneumatic Subway and the Beginnings of Rapid Transit in New York.” May 2004, web publ. at http://www.columbia.edu/˜brennan/beach/.
- ISR PCT/US08/058151.
Type: Grant
Filed: Mar 25, 2008
Date of Patent: Apr 13, 2010
Patent Publication Number: 20080279640
Assignee: Picker Technologies LLC (Mercer Island, WA)
Inventors: Vincent E. Bryan, Jr. (Quincy, WA), Alex E. Kunzler (Issaquah, WA), Joseph A. Penaranda (Renton, WA), Jeffrey A. Cleveringa (Ephrata, WA), Randy Allard (Germantown, TN), Daniel Baker (Seattle, WA), Vincent E. Bryan, III (Mercer Island, WA)
Primary Examiner: Gene Crawford
Assistant Examiner: William R Harp
Attorney: Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym Ltd.
Application Number: 12/055,209
International Classification: B65G 53/58 (20060101);